The Reformation of Slavery - @T_Dubb_O

Most of the world thinks American slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation that was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1st, 1863. However, I will prove how slavery never truly ended, but was simply reformatted to provide a false sense of “freedom” to Blacks in this country to prevent rebellion against white supremacy and capitalism. This is done using mass criminalization to imprison blacks at a higher rate than any other race for the purposes of free labor and a continued slave/master relationship.

The year is 1865, slavery is over and all citizens can thrive and succeed in the American dream, right? Abraham Lincoln was just assassinated and Vice President Andrew Johnson has taken over the presidency. Andrew Johnson was a southern Democrat. He was a known racist, and he was only chosen by Lincoln for the sake of gathering southern Democratic support. Once Johnson took over, southern radicals involved in government became more emboldened. At this moment, southern officials established, “The Black Codes”, which were laws that basically reverted Black people back to following the same rules as slavery. From post slavery, up until today, more black men are in Prison than were enslaved in 1850. Some may say much has changed since our grandparents were boycotting in the streets of the U.S. during the Civil Rights era. Racism cannot be abolished by a document. Murder is already illegal, but it seems to be totally moral and legal in some circumstances for law enforcement and others to murder, rob, and extort black people at their will.

Slavery was abolished on paper, but not in the minds and conditions of black people. Systematic oppression, predatory policing, and the war on drugs has replaced the Bull Connors of the south to keep black people in “check”. A lot of us may feel things have changed things due to the fact we have a black president, and a few successful black people. They say if you work hard, speak properly, dress properly, follow the law, and basically deny your blackness as much as possible you won’t be gunned down in the middle of the street by police and can make a survivable wage. Forget about the fact that your people were forced here, built this country, released with not a cent to their names, and told make something out of nothing. 1 out of 3 black men will go to prison in their lifetime. 1 out of 3! That’s just in America. In the UK, there are more black men in prison than there are in the entire country. We are not just discriminated against in the United States, but white supremacy and racism is a world-wide disease that ruins the lives of black families daily.

The Reagan administration ushered in an era that flooded black communities with drugs to support international interests as well as domestic interests of American white supremacy. It was proven that the CIA worked alongside President Reagan and intentionally pushed cocaine and crack-cocaine into the black community. After years of imprisoning black males and creating mass scales of bloodshed in the urban community, the war on drugs welcomed a new champion by the name of President Bill Clinton. The true legacy of President Clinton was the 1994 crime bill that is estimated to have imprisoned over 1,000,000 black men. It consisted of two plans, the Violent Crime Control and the Law Enforcement Act. It was a lengthy crime control bill that was put together over the course of six years. Its provisions implemented many things, including a "three strikes" mandatory life sentence for repeat offenders, money to hire 100,000 new police officers, $9.7 billion in funding for prisons, and an expansion of death penalty-eligible offenses. It also dedicated $6.1 billion to prevention programs "designed with significant input from experienced police officers", however, the bulk of the funds were dedicated to measures that are punitive rather than rehabilitative or preventative. This was another plan in the long line of plans that blatantly targeted the black community to propel white supremacy and fuel capitalism off the oppression of African Americans.

This type of de jure style racism even spreads to the everyday life of African Americans. Systemic ran communities create debtors’ prisons with their police departments. These municipalities target minorities to cushion annual city budgets. The “Ferguson Uprising” showed the world the discriminatory tactics police departments use in order to extort African Americans. Some city governments have been proved to receive up to 30% of their annual budgets from traffic citations and non-criminal arrests. Urban planners even use redistricting tactics to keep majority of black students in non-accredited schools. A couple signed laws from the days of Martin Luther King Jr. have not changed the hearts of the powers that be.

The Black race has been in a continuous fight against genocide for over 500 years in this country. We were bamboozled into believing our freedom and equity was given to us, but I believe with whole heartedness that our conditions got worse. While we stayed dormant and idol believing we won, politicians set in place policies that targeted us in ways we are still trying to understand. More black people were killed by police officers in these last 2 years than were lynched during the entire period of slavery. The wealth disparity in this country between Blacks and whites right now is higher than the peak of apartheid in South Africa. We are murdered on camera unjustly and no one is held accountable. The system isn’t broken; it is performing exactly how it was designed to perform. Slavery never ended, just evolved. The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he didn’t exist.

Thank You.